off topic Buffalo Bills 2015

[JJFIVEOH]

 

I don't think anybody was giving up on Cam at any point.

 

I can't tell if you're agreeing or disagreeing with me any more. 

[Hoss]

I can't tell if you're agreeing or disagreeing with me any more.

You said most teams would've given up on him after four seasons. That's false. No teams were going to give up on Cam considering how well he had played and how young he was...

Evaluating QBs is something teams need to be patient with, but it truly is obvious sometimes whether a player has NFL talent or not within a short period of time. If they've got some talent but aren't producing then you give them years to grow.

[Brawndo]

Interesting recap of the AFC Championship Game

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=15__293WG0Q#action=share

[WildCard]

Interesting recap of the AFC Championship Game

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=15__293WG0Q#action=share

East Asia is such a weird place

Edited January 25, 2016 by WildCard

[wjag]

All in fun

 

[WildCard]

All in fun

 

As much as I really do love this picture, it's from the Colts game this season, where the Pats murdered them  :lol:

[JujuFish]

With a losing record after 4 seasons, most teams would have given up on a QB regardless of stats. I'm giving Carolina credit for letting him mature. 

 

I don't understand what you're trying to say here.  His third season, the Panthers went 12-4.  He also won his division in his 3rd, 4th, and now 5th years.  He has improved in the playoffs each of the past three years as well.

 

I just don't see how it wasn't blindingly obvious that Newton was worth developing.

[JJFIVEOH]

I don't understand what you're trying to say here.  His third season, the Panthers went 12-4.  He also won his division in his 3rd, 4th, and now 5th years.  He has improved in the playoffs each of the past three years as well.

 

I just don't see how it wasn't blindingly obvious that Newton was worth developing.

 

There's some miscommunication here. I thought Cam was worth developing, I am a strong supporter of letting QBs develop and mature if not taking their lumps on the field for 3-4 years, then riding the bench and learning from a veteran for a couple of years. My point is that a lot of talent has been wasted by teams not giving these guys time to develop. Kudos to Carolina for doing so. 

[WildCard]

Anyone want some Rex Ryan vindication and early hope that next season will be better? Here is a great, great breakdown (both analytically and film wise) on how the Bills stacked up in 2014 against the Pats and in 2015 against the Pats, and the differences in the 1st and 2nd meeting
http://cover1.net/news/2016/1/22/mergedsystems
 
 

'We play New England for instance, we ran nothing but the defense that was played the year before. And you know, I knew better, I thought going in the first game, that is not how you play this guy.' -Rex Ryan, 1-23-2016 

What does he mean by "Bills defense?" Rex means "his defense". A well disguised , pressure based defense. One that created 27 pressures that night! Twenty seven pressures when he only blitzed on 11 drop-backs, shows that the Rex Ryan defense was present and effective that night. That pressure total exceeded the total pressures created by the Jim Schwartz led defense all of last year. Something else worth mentioning was that Mario only played 42 out of 69 snaps in that game because of an injury (PFF).

Edited January 26, 2016 by WildCard

[Hoss]

Tyler Dunne of TBN: Asked Doug Whaley if the #Bills would seriously consider a QB early. He cites Taylor/Manuel in final year of deals and says "Absolutely."

Edited January 26, 2016 by Hoss

[WildCard]

Tyler Sash, former Giants' Safety, had "extraordinary amounts of CTE" when examined after his death from an overdose. Only 27 years old

 

The CTE scale rates severity from 0 to 4. Sash had progressed to Stage 2, about the same stage Junior Seau was at when he committed suicide at age 43, the Times reports.

 

Chris Nowinski of the Concussion Legacy Foundation confirmed the CTE diagnosis to The Associated Press on Tuesday night.

 

The Times reports that Sash dealt with "confusion, memory loss and minor fits of temper" that affected his ability to find meaningful employment after he was released by the Giants in 2013.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14655379/tyler-sash-former-new-york-giants-safety-had-high-level-cte

Edited January 27, 2016 by WildCard

[That Aud Smell]

Ugh.

 

I do wonder how this is going to play out over time. Right now, the NFL seems utterly immune to any drag on its brand. I don't think that's going to go on indefinitely.

[shrader]

Tyler Sash, former Giants' Safety, had "extraordinary amounts of CTE" when examined after his death from an overdose. Only 27 years old

 

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14655379/tyler-sash-former-new-york-giants-safety-had-high-level-cte

 

I'm sure the info is out there, but we never actually hear it.  CTE is found in a lot of football players, we get that at this point.  What they need to start mentioning is how often it's found in a normal person's brain.  We need that comparison for this to really set in.

[Claude_Verret]

I'm sure the info is out there, but we never actually hear it.  CTE is found in a lot of football players, we get that at this point.  What they need to start mentioning is how often it's found in a normal person's brain.  We need that comparison for this to really set in.

 

 

Yep, they need a study with age matched non athlete controls.

[shrader]

Yep, they need a study with age matched non athlete controls.

 

I have no doubt that it's out there, but it's never mentioned in the doom and gloom media coverage.  I also have no doubt that the rate is higher in those football players, but I still want to see the exact numbers.  That doesn't make someone click on a link though, so that info will rarely be mentioned.

[spndnchz]

They need those new helmets.

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

25 years ago today... :censored:

[Weave]

Ugh.

 

I do wonder how this is going to play out over time. Right now, the NFL seems utterly immune to any drag on its brand. I don't think that's going to go on indefinitely.

 

What fan is going to stop watching because of this?  As long as the fans turn on CBS and Fox every Sunday it will go on indefinitely.

[TrueBlueGED]

As long as gambling is around and easily accessible, the NFL will be fine.

[That Aud Smell]

What fan is going to stop watching because of this? 

 

I don't disagree with what you're suggesting there.

 

I do wonder what it's going to do to their available talent pool.

 

It's very anecdotal, but I know two families with ~10 year old kids who are both very, very good athletes. In both families, one of the parents played D-1 athletics (a Mom and a Dad). In both families, the Dads grew up playing football (one captained his high school team (but did not play in college) and the other played D-1 at a mid-major). I know these kids because they're both playing soccer at a club where I help coach (well, I try to help). One of them is also playing basketball; the other also does some swimming. No football. The choice is deliberate.

 

As long as gambling is around and easily accessible, the NFL will be fine.

 

Maybe. This caught my eye in the USA Today earlier this week:

 

Jerry [Jacobs] says the company’s clients got copies [of the Jacobs-commissioned report on the future of sports]: “They’ll say, ‘Yeah, I read it — twice. And then I had my people read it. And can I get more copies?’ Because there is this hunger and this, I don’t know, industry angst over, ‘We need to think about what’s happening, because this scares me.’ ”

 

And here he mentions how his father often tells them that horse racing and boxing were once among North America’s most popular sports.

 

“If you don’t stay in front of it, you’re going to end up very quickly behind it,” Jerry says. “I think a lot of owners and league leaders are aware of this, and there’s an appetite for this dialogue.”

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2016/01/26/jeremy-jacobs-future-of-sports-delaware-north-stadiums-fans-athletes-esports-broadcasting/79322392/

Once upon a time, gambling fueled boxing and horse racing.

Edited January 27, 2016 by That Aud Smell

[Weave]

I think the talent pool will be more than sufficient to supply the NFL with a surplus of talent as long as there are poor kids with no other option for escaping poverty.  It is basically middle class white parents that are consciously choosing to avoid enrolling their kids in football programs.

[That Aud Smell]

I think the talent pool will be more than sufficient to supply the NFL with a surplus of talent as long as there are poor kids with no other option for escaping poverty.  It is basically middle class white parents that are consciously choosing to avoid enrolling their kids in football programs.

 

Maybe.

 

That vision, btw, is one that leaves me vaguely depressed. Not too far from having a bloodsport in which gladiators plucked from prisons and other fringes of society risk their lives for the entertainment of the privileged (and, to a lesser extent, the rabble). I suspect there are those who would contend we're already there.

[Stoner]

I think the talent pool will be more than sufficient to supply the NFL with a surplus of talent as long as there are poor kids with no other option for escaping poverty.  It is basically middle class white parents that are consciously choosing to avoid enrolling their kids in football programs.

I don't doubt it, but is there evidence that enough of the player base comes from poor families to sustain the league if more well off families opt out of football? Seems a little stereotypical, the poor black kid coming out of the projects to make it big in the pros...

[Weave]

Maybe.

 

That vision, btw, is one that leaves me vaguely depressed. Not too far from having a bloodsport in which gladiators plucked from prisons and other fringes of society risk their lives for the entertainment of the privileged (and, to a lesser extent, the rabble). I suspect there are those who would contend we're already there.

 

I think we are most of the way there already.

[That Aud Smell]

I don't doubt it, but is there evidence that enough of the player base comes from poor families to sustain the league if more well off families opt out of football? Seems a little stereotypical, the poor black kid coming out of the projects to make it big in the pros...

 

Good point/question.

 

Not for nothing: Today's modern athletes are increasingly (damn near uniformly, it seems) the products of households where parents/guardians identify, nurture, and facilitate development of the kid's talents. That goes for well-to-do families as well as working poor families. In other words, there are adults in these kids' lives who are responsible and looking out for the kids' best interests. 

 

It may be that the working poor will defect in smaller numbers from Pop Warner. I'm not so sure, though.

 

For my part, I look forward to the day when an up and coming version of Adrian Peterson is turned onto soccer rather than football.